17/04/2012

We know that you lovely Marketplace lot are hot on the old wardrobe recycling, but chances are most of you draw the line at trying to sell on your old bra’s for a few bob.

Oxfam’s Big Bra Hunt kicked off on April 1st, and they are here to take care of your old-bra business. We’d love for all our wardrobe recyclers to get involved and join Oxfam in their bra amnesty, aiming to collect at least one million bras in April. Some of the bra’s donated will be sold in Oxfam’s shops in the UK, but the majority will be sold by women in West Africa – where bras are hard to come by and the money raised will make a real difference in poor communities.

Most of the bras will be sent to Senegal where the Oxfam ran enterprise Frip Ethique will work to sell the bras to local market traders. Working at Frip Ethique allows women to earn a good salary which in turn generates the funds that can be spent on essentials such as rent and education.

Miquita Oliver, who visited Frip Ethique with Oxfam last June, says: “I think many of us would confess to hanging onto bras we don’t want or need – from gifts that don’t fit to old favourites we just can’t bear to part with. I met women at Frip Ethique whose whole lives had been changed thanks to the income they were earning from bra sales.”

Literally all you have to do is drop off your old bra’s at your local Oxfam shop. That’s it. I think we can all manage that, yes? Yes.

Oxfam's instruction are below, and you can read all about the campaign on their site too.